Here I talk about life and writing and my books, including The Tales from Atlantis book one Digging Up the Past and book two Reaching for Beyond. I give hints about what's to come and excerpts from current works.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Tales of Atlantis, introduction

I thought a little background on the Tales from Atlantis was
in order since some of the books don’t focus that much on Atlantis itself.They focus more on what would happen if
magic returned, and for me, that's what happens when Atlantis returns.

Riley’s
world came into being about 10 years ago when I heard about a contest where
writers were asked to write stories based on what would happen if magic
returned to the earth.

I didn’t write a story for the contest.You have to overcome ‘life’ to make time to
write, but the idea stuck with me.Then
it started growing until now it has developed into a whole world populated with
characters who are sometimes a little different and don’t always follow the plan
I have for them, but they wouldn’t be any fun if they did.They do get the person, however, and I hope
you’ll like them.

Riley’s work with DUE started after her brother was killed
by her then fiancé in a drug deal gone bad.That betrayal started Riley on a new life where she uses her empathic
and witchcraft skills in spite of not being able to shift shapes like a proper
shape shifter should.Initially, anger
drove her quest for revenge until she saw her lying killer of a boyfriend put
away for life.After that, she was just
angry with all drug dealers until Giles Walker of DUE heard about the vigilante
who was taking out drug dealers and brought her into DUE.At the time of the events in this story,
Riley has been with DUE for about 3 years.

I’ve always been fascinated with stories of Atlantis and
magic, and I’m a big fan of Urban Fantasy like Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files,
Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake, and Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan, so it was
natural for me to write Urban Fantasy.

Author Bio:

Sandi lives in Texas with three
roommates, two Yellow Labs, a Shepherd/Border Collie mix, two terrier mixes and
assorted other critters.The animals
were primarily rescues.Sandi’s full
time job is as the Public Information Officer for the local Sheriff’s Office,
and she teaches English part time at the local Community College.

She says she has a couple of
degrees from the University of North Texas lying around somewhere, and she’s
been writing ever since she can remember.Sandi took time off for work and school, and previously her writing has
been more geared toward short stories and academic papers.

Sandi publishes a newsletter and
several articles a month in her current position, but she has now added writing
fiction and currently has several more books in the works.

Excerpt:

Immortality? Now that’s
tempting. Throw in an army of the dead, and hey, any evil overlord would kill
for that package.

When the Homeland
Security Service’s Department of Unusual Events, or DUE, assigned my partner,
Jason, and me to this case, the file said the spade we were looking for was
valued at eighteen million dollars and belonged to the Peruvian government.
Stolen during shipment from Peru to the local university, the spade, along with
a number of the other artifacts uncovered on a dig site in Peru, was scheduled
for study here. According to our file, the HSS believed it had been stolen for
financial gain or, perhaps, to cause an international incident. Not our usual
type of case, but not unheard of either.

What the file didn’t
mention was that this wasn’t just any gold spade. This was the Spade of
Apocatequil. Peruvian legend has it that anywhere Apocatequil stuck this spade
in the ground, people sprang up. Now, the spade is believed to grant the holder
immortality and the power to raise the dead. Minor omission.

My cover
on this assignment was that of a college student. I also worked as a dog walker
for the Bradens, who were our primary suspects, so every afternoon, Angel, the
Bradens’ German shepherd, and I made the two-block walk to the dog park near
the Bradens’ house.

When I
pulled in at the house, I could tell no one was home. The Bradens would be at
the local dig site until at least dark, getting set for the summer dig, and it
wasn’t unusual for Keesha, the Bradens’ daughter, and Mena, the operative from
Cerberus Security who’s been acting as her nanny, to be out in the early
afternoon. I clipped the leash on Angel and we headed for the park.

Oh, as
for why they should be our primary suspects, that’s the easy part. John Braden
was the American archaeologist on the Peruvian dig. His wife, Sonya, was the
lead anthropologist on that same dig, and that put them at the top of the list
of suspects. That placement was further supported by the fact that someone else
believed they had the spade. Our file also indicated that things had been
stolen from other dig sites when they were in charge. The hard part was that
there was no evidence, solid or otherwise, that they took the spade, or that
they were involved in any of the other thefts.